reference number not recognised on gov website

I applied for permanent residency as EU national ( cyprus) and sent my application mid August 2017. then a month later mid September I received my case ID number. since then it has been saying ' awaiting decision' on the check your visa status page.

just yesterday, I went to check my visa status online and it now says ' reference number not recognised'. I called the home office who said might be a technical error due to system. so im just wondering if anyone else has been experiencing this at the moment?

the other thing is, my friend who I stay with received a big envelope at the house yesterday ( as Im away atm on holiday) saying it looks like lots of documents inside. and on the front of the envelope has my case ID number for the home office. he doesn't want to open it as he says is private but atm as I am on holiday that envelope with the documents is my documents I had sent to home office for my application.

Im a bit nervous usually if they sent back the documents is that a positive sign? ( after 2.5 months of applying).

also it's a bit funny that at the same time that he received my documents, the same day when I went to check my status it came up with the message ' reference number not recognised'

please advice

Hello

Please try removing the first figure if it is 0 and try again. This might be the reason you are getting the message

good Luck with your application

hi

thanks but the first number does not start with 0. actually the first two numbers start with 22.